Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of German Application No. 199 18 418.6 filed Apr. 23, 1999. Applicant also claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7120 of PCT/DE00/01256 filed Apr. 20, 2000. The international application under PCT article 21(2) was not published in English.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a planter having an insert for holding a plant and having a support for attaching the planter to a fastening location.
The invention relates to a planter in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.
2. The Prior Art
A planter of such kind, having a plant container which opens upward, into which an insert in the form of a basket is inserted, wherein the planter has a support that can be attached at one end to the planter and at the other end to a fastening location, is known from EP 0 846 413 A2. The planter has proved highly serviceable, especially when used as a balcony flowerbox firstly since the water regimen for the plants can be regulated extremely precisely by virtue of the special configuration of the this planter, and secondly since the removable basket-shaped insert allows plants to be taken out of the upwardly open plant container easily if necessary, for wintering, for instance, without the need to dismantle the entire planter from the attachment location, for example a balcony railing or similar.
However, the support that has been hitherto used for this planter is associated with a number of disadvantages. The support described in EP 0 846 413 A2 is provided with a suspension hook having one upwardly bent end which engages in a hole in the bottom of the plant container. The suspension hook thus encompasses the bottom and one sidewall of the planter, so that the planter, when hanging up, is resting on the suspension hook. At its other end, which is also shaped, the hook is attached for example to the head of a balcony railing. A suspension hook of this nature is largely indistinguishable from the suspension hooks commonly used for planters. All such suspension hooks have certain disadvantages.
In particular, the suspension arrangement may not provide sufficient stability. In inclement weather, the planter can be blown back and forth by sidewinds, which in extreme cases may cause the planter to become detached from the support and fall. A further disadvantage lies in the fact that it is difficult or impossible to adjust conventional supports to the angle of the suspension location. In addition, the end of the support provided for attachment to the suspension location is mostly available in a single, standard conformation, corresponding to standard balcony railing heads.
Moreover, if the known planters are attached to the balconies of multi-story buildings as flowerboxes, the supports that are attached to the bottom area of the planters do not look attractive to the observer at street level, since they detract from the overall appearance of planters of such kind, particularly when the supports, which are manufactured for the most part from steel, begin to show signs of corrosion.
If the known planters are positioned or suspended more at less on a level with the ground in public facilities, it is also necessary to ensure that they are adequately protected against theft. The conventional supports are unsatisfactory in this respect, because it is difficult to conform in them in a way that makes them impossible to steal.
The task of the invention is therefore to improve a planter of the kind described in the introduction, to the end that its support is conformed to be mechanically stable, secure against severe weather and theft and such that the overall visual impression of the planter is not impaired.
This task in solved by a planter provided with a support that consists of two retaining arms which can be attached to two opposing sidewalls of the planter, whereby each retaining arm is furnished with at least two holes in the lower area thereof, with which bolts mounted on the inner wall engage, wherein the engaged retaining arm is laterally fixed to the bolts through the inner wall of the sidewall of the planter and through an outer wall of a sidewall of the basket, and an upper area of the retaining arm rises above the plant container and the basket and is provided with a fastening flange for fixing to the fastening location, wherein the angle between fastening flange and fastening location can be adjusted when the planter is in a horizontal position.
The task is therefore solved remarkably easily in that two retaining arms are fastened to the inner sides of the plant container sidewalls, and that the angle between the retaining arm or fastening flange and the fastening location is adjustable.
A configuration of this kind provides for mechanically stable fastening of the planter to the fastening location, and mechanical stable attachment of the support to the planter. Since the support is laterally restricted and constrained by the sidewalls of the plant container and the basket respectively, even laterally occurring mechanical forces, for example from wind, can be effectively neutralized. The solution according to the invention also offers advantages with respect to the danger of theft. Since the retaining arms are secured internally, unauthorized persons cannot easily gain access to the attachment locations of the retaining arms to the planter, since these attachment locations are covered by the basket; it is easily possible to secure the basket to the plant container, so that this basket cannot be removed from the plant container without considerable effort.
Since only a small portion of the support is visible, the support no longer detracts from the appearance. When the planter is viewed from below or diagonally below, the support is entirely unseen. The support is integrated with the overall appearance and is organically assimilated thereinto, so that it does not have the visual effect of an external attachment.
Since the angle between the support and the attachment location is infinitely adjustable, the planter according to the invention can also be attached to sites that hitherto presented problems of attachment, for example vertically under a building overhang, a filling station roof or similar.
Practical embodiments of the invention provides that both bolts are arranged on the sidewall of the planter on a line parallel to the surface of the bottom wall of the basket; a plurality of holes is arranged in an arc pattern in the lower area of the retaining arm, wherein one bolt can be engaged with any hole in the arc and a second bolt can be engaged in a hole that is located outside of the arc, and the linear separation between each hole of the arc and the hole located outside the arc is the same in every case.
To secure the lower area of the retaining arm in this embodiment, the single hole is positioned over a bolt. This bolt then serves as an axis about which the retaining arm is pivoted to the desired angle until the hole in the arc corresponding to the desired angle can be located over the second bolt.
A further practical embodiment of the invention provides for the configuration of the retaining arm as a flat member, in which an upper end forming the fastening flange is conformed angularly. It is further provided that the fastening flange is furnished with an elongated hole. This elongated hole can then particularly be used for screwing the fastening flange directly to the attachment location, in which case the elongated hole serves to align the planter. For example, if the planter is to be attached to the railing head of a balcony, standard parts can be used to provide an attachment of the fastening flange to the railing head over these standard parts, or, for example a simple perforated strap can be wrapped round the railing head and attached to the fastening flange by means of a toggle.
Improved embodiments of the invention provide that the bolt has the form of a single-piece ratchet that is attached to the inner wall of the plant container by means of a sprung tongue, or in alternative embodiments thereof, the bolt is made from plastic and is injected into the inner wall, or the bolt is springily located in the sidewall. Alternative embodiments may also provide for a bolt having the form of a stud.
A further embodiment may provided for a hole in the retaining arm to have the shape of a curved elongated hole. In conjunction with a stud furnished with a nut, this curved elongated hole may be used to provide the simplest method possible for infinite adjustability of the retaining arm.
Further practical embodiments of the invention provide for a fastening flange having at least one folding point so that at least one partial area of the fastening flange can be angularly adjusted more precisely; that the fastening flange is furnished with a slot; that the retaining arm can be attached to a support bracket, wherein the support bracket can be angled member which may be bent to form a U-member, wherein it may be further provided that the angled member has at least one folding point, by means of which the angled member may be bent to form a U-member, and wherein it may be further provided for the angled member to have a toggle at one end, wherein the toggle can be attached to the fastening flange.